Clark Laidlaw, head coach of the Hurricanes, won the Super Rugby title in his third season on the club's bench. The Hurricanes lifted the trophy at the end of June after defeating the Chiefs 60-5 in the final, having started their title run from the top of the table at the end of the regular season.
In the knockout phase, the Hurricanes were convincing. In the first match, they beat the Brumbies 66-12, and then defeated the Blues 57-21 in the semi-final. Laidlaw thus concluded a season in which his team dominated from start to finish.
Laidlaw was born in Scotland, is the son of Roy Laidlaw and a relative of Greig Laidlaw. He holds a New Zealand passport and has lived in New Zealand for 18 years, with interruptions. He left Scotland at the age of 30 when he moved to Taranaki, where he worked as a skills coach on the North Island. Before that, he worked for the East Lothian Council and coached Jed-Forest, and spent a short period at London Irish ten years ago. He turned down offers from Leinster and Montpellier and returned to New Zealand after two seasons. He left school at the age of 16.
On Saturday, he will face Scotland at Murrayfield, but will not be coaching the team. Mike Blair, former Scotland captain, will return to that stadium as the All Blacks' attack coach. The New Zealand coaching staff also includes Euan Mackintosh, skills coach, and Adam Hay, a New Zealand performance scientist. The four Scots met in New Zealand several weeks before the match.
Laidlaw spoke about his life on the BBC's Scotland Rugby Podcast. On Saturday, he will be supporting Scotland. Eight Hurricanes players are in Dave Rennie's travelling squad.
His father Roy lives with dementia and is placed in a care home in Jedburgh. In eight years as an international, he had 47 caps for Scotland and four for the Lions, and wore the number nine jersey. John Rutherford and Keith Robertson, winners of the 1984 Grand Slam, visit him every week.
Before working in Super Rugby, Laidlaw was a coach for New Zealand's rugby sevens team. With that team, he won gold at the Commonwealth Games and the Rugby Sevens World Cup, and won silver at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
